He’d never loved a woman like he loved Brooke. He couldn’t imagine sharing anything more intense than what they had this morning. But now she was sitting in between him and Tyler, confessing to theft. To hacking. To hiding money.

Lee bit his lip. He was stunned. He heard the words, but it was unbelievable. How was it possible? Brooke? Their sweet perfect Brooke had done this.

“Niall made you hack into our payroll?” He tried to keep his voice calm.

She nodded. “I knew it was wrong. I knew stealing from you was wrong. I didn’t touch the employees’ income, just the company portions. I know that doesn’t make it any better, but Niall didn’t know where the money came from, only that it ended up where he wanted it.”

She hung her head. “I thought it was better to steal from you rather than the employees. It was the only control I had. It was the only thing I could think of to do.” He heard the pain in her voice.

Tyler pressed his lips together. “This is it, isn’t it? This is what the fucked-up money philosophy is all about?”

She looked at them. “Yes,” she whispered.

He pushed off the bed and paced at the window. “Damn it, Brooke.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Lee stared at her. “What did you mean we were going to find out?”

“Niall is blackmailing me. He said if I didn’t get cash to him this morning he was going to the press and outing me.”

“That’s insane.”

She sniffed. “I didn’t want to ask for the money and I don’t have enough to pay him.” He saw the look of desperation in her eyes. “I don’t want you to be embarrassed by me. I don’t want to tarnish Soar. If the press finds out what I did, it’s going to ruin the Dreams with Wings reputation. It means so much to you. It’s your life’s work. God, I don’t know what to do to make this right.”

“You should have told us,” Tyler growled. “From the beginning. You should have told us. We could have helped you. What were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t in the best position to say much.” She stared at him. “I wasn’t a guest during your retreat. It wasn’t like those first two weeks were some kind of magical fairytale. I was glad I stole from you.” The tears welled in her eyes. “But I’m not now. I would never want to hurt either of you. I’m so so sorry.”

Lee placed a hand on her knee. “It doesn’t matter. You’ve told us now. We have to figure out how to deal with your cousin.”

Tyler continued to pace. He knew his friend would be angry for a while. But he knew exactly what was going through his head. He was pissed at Niall—not Brooke. They would do everything they could to protect her. There were no words to describe what Niall had done to the woman they loved.

“You what?” She blinked back the tears.

Lee pressed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll figure it out.”

She shook her head, her hair flying around her bare shoulders. “No. I’ll leave. I’ll resign from my position with Dreams with Wings. You can clean up the PR nightmare when I’m out of the picture. It’s better for the foundation this way.”

Tyler rushed to the side of the bed. “Hell no. That isn’t going to happen.”

Her eyes flew to his. “Don’t try to protect me in this. I did it. I hacked in. I helped Niall. And maybe I didn’t get caught then, but I’m going to have to pay for it now. My past. My sins. My penance to pay, not yours. I deserved to be punished for my crimes.”

Tyler’s hands moved to her face. “We’ve all done shit we’re not proud of, sweetheart. But no one is going to hurt you again. Lee and I will make sure of that. We’re in this together now. Your past and everything that comes with it. We meant every word of what we said. What good would our word be, if we only said it for the good times, right?”

“How can you forgive me?” she whispered.

Lee smiled. “You were in bed with us about thirty minutes ago, weren’t you?”

She blushed. She was beautiful and sexy. Still so innocent. “Yes.”

“You belong to us. We belong to you. That means something, Brooke. Those weren’t just words. We are men of honor. Our word means something. Tyler and I will take care of your cousin. You aren’t alone anymore.”

There was alarm in her voice. “What are you going to do to him? Are you going to pay him off?”

Tyler scoured the room for his clothes. He threw a shirt at Lee. “He’s not going to bother you. That’s all you need to know.”

“Wait. Please tell me something. Anything,” she pleaded. “Don’t do something stupid. I don’t want either of you to get hurt. Niall is crazy. You can’t trust him.”

Lee leaned to kiss her on the cheek before he and Tyler left. “We’ve got you. We’ve got this. Try to get some sleep. We can handle him. Stop worrying.”

“Sleep? You expect me to sleep?” Her eyes darted back and forth. “There’s no way I can close my eyes.”

“Work?” he suggested.

She bit her lip. “Maybe. I can try. I do have to get to the office. I have another meeting.”

“Good. Focus on that today. We’ll meet you there. And stop worrying.”

If he could, he’d stay in bed with her all day and kiss away the fear that was in her eyes, but there was a way to make sure the fear never returned. And for that, he and Tyler were going to have to deal with Niall McIntosh.